Performance Comparison between Rectangular and Circular Cross-section Columns in Fire Situation, Using Tabulated Methods

Abstract

It is presented, in this study, a performance comparison between rectangular and circular cross-section’ columns in fire situation, using tabulated methods. For this purpose it appealed to the statistical analysis of the fire behaviour of 13129 columns inserted in the structures of 63 buildings carefully selected so that it corresponded to a representative sample of the licensed buildings in Portugal, covering different types of occupation. From these columns, 12243 presented a rectangular cross-section and 886 a circular cross-section. The fire resistance required for these columns was analysed using the methods presented in the form of tables in EN 1992-1-2 [1]. It was found that these methods were not applicable to a large number of columns (up to 45,8% in rectangular columns and 45,6% in circular columns) and, when applicable, led to a reduced number of columns that checked the fire resistance (up to 24,6% in rectangular columns and 36,5% in circular columns). It also concludes that the application of these methods to the circular columns leads to substantially less conservative results than when applied to the rectangular columns.